Initially, I was not too excited to create a wiki: everything was new and unknown to me, and I wasn't sure where to start. As I got into it, though, it became fun! It was very time consuming, though, especially because my computer kept stopping and losing my work... But I'm pretty satisfied with the end results. When you view my wiki, please understand the way I set it up: Obviously, if my students are only up to unlocking word families (if you can read man, you can read pan and can...), they are unable to read my instructions or introductions on each page. Therefore, what I had in mind was that the first couple of times my students logged onto my wiki, they would need a reader to help them understand what to do- a parent, or the teacher, or an older sibling. I think, though, that the directions are so simple that soon the child would be able go on himself and go to a 'word family castle' and unlock a page by reading it. It's a great way to practice and reinforce what it is being learned in class.
So as not to confuse my students, I would create seperate wikis for different course content. For example, a seperate one for science, social studies... After my students become comfortable accessing and using the wiki, I might include new content to be delivered that way as well. I would love to have a wiki where students can post their work, and it can be like an online portfolio for those invited such as parents and grandparents. This would of course include a discussion space where those visiting our wiki can comment and compliment our students' work. As per my introduction on the wiki, I would be constantly monitoring and changing the sections of my wiki. Another reason for monitoring is to check if students added words appropriately to the existing word families. All in all, I admit that though it was time consuming to create, and a little more difficult because modifying the text is NOT as easy as Word, it's a really cute idea for students to learn and gain through all the content areas!! Listen to my podcast!!!
PODCAST...
The following link is a link to my wiki: http://mgliteracy.wikispaces.com/
Initially, I was not too excited to create a wiki: everything was new and unknown to me, and I wasn't sure where to start. As I got into it, though, it became fun! It was very time consuming, though, especially because my computer kept stopping and losing my work... But I'm pretty satisfied with the end results. When you view my wiki, please understand the way I set it up: Obviously, if my students are only up to unlocking word families (if you can read man, you can read pan and can...), they are unable to read my instructions or introductions on each page. Therefore, what I had in mind was that the first couple of times my students logged onto my wiki, they would need a reader to help them understand what to do- a parent, or the teacher, or an older sibling. I think, though, that the directions are so simple that soon the child would be able go on himself and go to a 'word family castle' and unlock a page by reading it. It's a great way to practice and reinforce what it is being learned in class.
So as not to confuse my students, I would create seperate wikis for different course content. For example, a seperate one for science, social studies... After my students become comfortable accessing and using the wiki, I might include new content to be delivered that way as well. I would love to have a wiki where students can post their work, and it can be like an online portfolio for those invited such as parents and grandparents. This would of course include a discussion space where those visiting our wiki can comment and compliment our students' work. As per my introduction on the wiki, I would be constantly monitoring and changing the sections of my wiki. Another reason for monitoring is to check if students added words appropriately to the existing word families. All in all, I admit that though it was time consuming to create, and a little more difficult because modifying the text is NOT as easy as Word, it's a really cute idea for students to learn and gain through all the content areas!!
Listen to my podcast!!!
PODCAST...